Today, Drew Cook won a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. And by “won” I don’t mean claimed the trophy, but rather that he did not back into victory on the strength of his prior three days. He caught his third straight 24-pound-plus limit, which combined with 31-13 on Thursday gave him a margin of victory of over 2 pounds. More importantly, he showed his mettle by doing the heavy lifting in the afternoon subsequent to a tough morning.
On the Bassmaster.com Blog, Steve Wright compared Cook’s late-day 7-14 giant to a “9th-inning home run,” but it was more than that. In terms of career progression, it was a 9th-inning home run in Game Seven, with two strikes. He had to have that fish, because while second place against this field is remarkable and admirable, after leading for three days anything but a victory would almost certainly have felt like a complete letdown. He’s had lots of great individual and AOY finishes in his young career, but this one tells us who he is – and who he can be.
Here are a passel of thoughts on what we saw from South Carolina today:
Save the Best for Last – We’ve been told repeatedly that things would get better as the tournament progressed, and I figured that would be the case today, since weekdays are usually overall less pressured, and of course there’d be fewer Elite competitors out there. How did it play out? Of the 10 anglers who competed today, five had their worst day of the tournament. Four had their second worst day of the tournament. Of course, that’s a relative thing. Four of those “third best” and one of those “worst” finishes of the week were over 20 pounds. Did it get tougher? Did they run out of fish? Or did they take some sort of gamble to shoot for the win that didn’t pay off?
Quiet Time for BP – We all know that Brandon Palaniuk is a superior angler, but we may not actually recognize how good he is, simply because he’s great at so many things. I mean, if you’re only a flipper, or a cranker or a sight-fisherman, then people pick you for Fantasy Fishing when the conditions line up for a particular technique, but if you’re just a great angler, there’s not necessarily a reason to pick you out of the lineup. There are always shinier objects. Nevertheless, Palaniuk enjoyed a near-win that others would give their right arm for, and it was just another day at the office. As the senior citizen among today’s top ten — not necessarily in terms of age, but rather by Elite Series duration and tenure – he is the archetype for young pros like Drew Cook and Patrick Walters who never seem to falter, and who seem to excel no matter what the species, geography or conditions may be.
The Cheese Did Not Stand Alone – Two Wisconsinites on the final day of competition. That’s two more than Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and Japan combined. Of course, apparently Lake Marion was only big enough for one Badger, as Pat Schlapper was relegated to a position as the only angler in Lake Marion.
BCobb – While he wasn’t in contention for the win, I was reminded today of why I like watching Brandon Cobb fishing. He’s kind of like Steve Kennedy – seems to be happy to be out there, enjoying the process, kicking butt with a smile.
Kuphall’s Near Miss – Had Kuphall caught just an average fifth keeper on Friday he would’ve claimed his second Elite trophy in consecutive years. Of course getting from four to five when things aren’t working is easier said than done, especially from behind my screen. It reminds me of the talk after Jason Christie only weighed in four fish on the last day of the 2018 Classic. To the extent that provides Kuphall with any comfort, things worked out pretty well for Christie down the road.
More Kuphall What If Questions – As far as we know, Kuphall is the only angler since the formation of the Elite Series to weigh in over 100 pounds with fewer than 20 fish in Elite competition, after he suffered through a 4 bass, 13 pound day on Friday. If he’d weighed in that amount on each of the first two days, he would’ve finished 80th. Conversely, if you take his Day One, Day Two and Day Four weights (29-10, 31-04, and 29-03) they average out to a crawfish over 30 pounds per day. Extrapolated over four days, that would’ve been 120 pounds.
Fishing Lesson Learned – Brandon Palaniuk started the tournament on a pre-spawn highway. Today John Cox reported seeing fry guarders. It’s a good reminder that not all fish on a given body of water do the same thing at the same time. Even if you don’t have enough fish doing any one activity to cobble together a big bag, you might be able to do so by opening up your mind and the full tool box.
Tackle Note – You think there will be a run on Big Bite Fighting Frogs this week? If the spawn’s still going on where you live, you might want to pick up a bag or three.
Random Question – Just about every lake seems to have a Broad Creek or Mill Creek or Long Creek. Why aren’t there more Potato Creeks?
Quote of the Day – “I can’t cast well, I guess.” John Cox, when asked by Dave Mercer why he doesn’t like fishing docks. That’s your AOY leader.